More from Justice (who, if I recall, was a jam ref throughout many
games)--as well as somethings that I observed when I had my head on
straight.

Maybe these recaps have something to teach. Obviously its difficult to
pull as jam together with skaters in the box, which EVERY team had to deal
with quite a bit.

Skaters got in the box for laying tough hits, but a TON of majors were
issued on track cutting to gain jammer advantage and pack proximity rules
(20ft)...

Obviously these are scenarios that MN and Madison were not expecting to
deal with.

And everyone seems to agree that Detroit's skate skill and teams work
improved throughout the weekend.

But over all, lots of fun! Clearly a very impressive region (and there are
some many leagues yet to be represented--and the word on the street is
Charm City is very good... and obviously Cincinnati---both of whom held
their own against Carolina)

KC is VERY excited to play us (they had 12 skaters in the crowd!)

I've been around town today and everywhere I go I think I seeing skaters
and fans from the tournament wearing their team logos (oh look there's a
boston girl, there go some Gothom fans, hey isn't that the cocky skater
from Providence) It's as though all of these people I met are still
wondering through my head like ghosts.

--Scotty



Heartland Havoc: Day Two
Submitted by Justice Feelgood Marshall... on August 18, 2007 - 11:01pm.

Heartland Havoc: Day Two

Windy City Shocks Madison, 94-63
Detroit Ousts Minnesota, 99-77
Gotham Ejects Philly, 139-81
Carolina Shuts Down Providence, 98-55

-------
(t7) Windy City 94, (t1) Madison 63

In a massive upset, #7 seed Windy City kicked off a day of surprises by
denying Madison's Mad Rollin' Dolls their long-expected trip to September's
national tournament, upending the #1 seed 94-63 with an incredible display
of defensive teamwork.

The game started out just as was expected, with Madison establishing a
quick lead with the help of Windy City's jammer Athena DeCrime collecting
four minors and going to the penalty box on the very first jam. Five jams
deep into the game, Madison was cruising 23-7 and was confident enough to
pull off a rare star pass on the sixth jam, with Mouse handing off the star
to Chop Suzzy on a jam against Koka Loka. That brought the score to Madison
31, Windy City 15 with about 10 minutes left in the period -- and then
Madison's jammers found themselves almost completely unable to score points
against an suddenly inpenetrable Windy City defense. Madison only scored 1
point for the rest of the period, and the Windy City girls chipped away at
that lead until they'd narrowed it to just one, with the period ending
32-31 for Madison.

Fans and audience members might have been forgiven for thinking that the #1
seed was just suffering a momentary lapse, but the second period proved
that Windy City was making a serious run for the victory. Absolutely
smothering defense kept the Madison girls from creating any offense at all
for the first seven jams of the period, with respected Madison jammers
Mouse, Jenny Knoxville and Darling Nikki all getting shut out twice.
Meanwhile, the Windy City jammers, led by Malice in Chains, Yvette
Yourmaker and Koka Loka, got lead jammer for a whopping 10 jams in a row
and piled up a series of 4-0 and 0-0 jams, going on a 16-0 run to start the
period. Across the first and second periods, Madison was only able to score
a single point over the course of 12 jams! Over the course of the second
period, Madison was outscored 32-7, and Windy City had established a 63 to
39 lead when time ran out in the second.

Madison fared slightly better in the third period, and for a short time
looked to be trying to put together a comeback. Windy City's Varla Vendetta
started the period off well for the Chicago girls, dropping an 8-0 point
jam on Madison jammer Mouse, but Madison finally got some offense on the
next couple of jams with a 4-0 for Jewel of Denial over Yvette Yourmaker
and another 4-0 for Jenny Knoxville over Hoosier Mama, bringing the score
to Windy City 71, Madison 48 with about 15 minutes to go in the game. The
margin stayed about the same for the next few jams, and then Madison
suffered a major setback when jammer Back Doris failed to get to the jammer
start line before the first whistle blew, forcing Madison to skate without
a jammer. Windy City jammer Koka Loka rang up 7 points in Doris' absence,
making it Windy City 84, Madison 51 with about 10 minutes left to play. The
game play got a bit more physical as it became increasingly clear that
Madison wasn't going to pull out a comeback, but still the jam outcomes
were almost always the same -- Madison jammers trapped behind walls of two
or three Windy City blockers while the Windy City blockers escaped to
daylight, lead jammer status, and more points. In the end, Windy City
pulled off possibly the biggest upset in the short history of flat-track
roller derby tournament play, ending Madison's Heartland Havoc experience
after just 60 minutes. Final score was Windy City 94, Madison 63.

There was a damper put on Windy City's victory, as effective blocker Donna
Party suffered a broken fibula in the third period. Windy City takes one of
the four slots in Austin's national tournament, and moves on to battle
Carolina in a semifinal match on Sunday. That game kicks off at 11am.

-----
(t9) Detroit 99, (t2) Minnesota 77

Clearly not wanting Windy City to have all the underdog glory, #9 seed
Detroit followed up the shocking opening upset with a major upset of their
own, taking out #2 seed Minnesota in an extremely physical bout.

The first five jams of the bout were a seesaw affair. Racer McChaseher got
Detroit a slim lead with an opening 4-3 two minute jam over Roxanne Rolls,
but two jams later Minnesota's Desi Cration put up two grand slams on Elle
McFearsome and staked Minnesota to a 13-8 lead. Detroit had an answer for
that, though, first tying the game at 21 and then going ahead 30-21 when
Vega Vendetta started a jam unopposed and picked up a grand slam point on
the penalized Roxanne Rolls. While that lead shrank and grew for the rest
of the game, Detroit never trailed again. On the period's second-to-last
jam, Desi Cration once again put up big numbers for Minnesota, getting an
8-0 jam over Cookie Rumble to close the score to Detroit 35, Minnesota 33.
After Killbox was able to put up a 3-0 over Voodoo Prodigy to end the
period, Detroit was up 38 to 33.

Detroit's most powerful jammer, Racer McChaseher, kicked off the second
period by running up 8 points on Voodoo Prodigy, who was still in the box
from the end of the previous period, and Detroit continued to build up on
their lead throughout the period, pushing it all the way to 68-49 with
about 8 minutes left in the period. At that point, though, Minnesota put
together their most focused series of the bout, gaining lead jammer status
four times in a row and shutting out Detroit for the last 5 jams of the
period while scoring 14 unanswered points. When the period ended on a 2-0
jam for Minnesota's Jawbreaker over Racer McChaseher, Minnesota looked like
they were on the verge of taking the game back, with the score Detroit 68,
Minnesota 66.

The momentum that Minnesota had built up seemed to vanish in between
periods, though -- Detroit picked up lead jammer on the first 8 jams of the
period, making it almost completely impossible for Minnesota to get points
on the board. Minnesota was shut out for the first five jams of the period
and was never able to score more than 4 points in a jam. When Minnesota's
Rebel Stella was finally able to steal lead jammer status in a late jam
against Rock Candy, Minnesota could only get a single point out of it,
moving the score to Detroit 88, Minnesota 72. With about four minutes left
in the game, Minnesota's last hope was a couple of big jams -- and while
there was a momentary chance when Minnesota's Desi Cration picked up lead
jammer on the following jam, she immediately lost it by getting sent to the
box on a fourth minor, smothering the last gasp for the Minnesota ladies.
In the end, Minnesota had almost no offensive output in the third period,
held to a mere 11 points, and Detroit scored the second huge upset of the
day, 99-77.

Detroit earns a berth in September's national tournament in Austin, and
will face Gotham in a semifinal game on Sunday at 1:30pm. The winner of
that game will battle either Windy City or Carolina in the Heartland Havoc
championship game.

-----------
(t5) Gotham 139, (t4) Philly 81

In a long-awaited battle for Northeast derby supremacy, 5 seed Gotham took
down 4 seed Philly by a convincing score of 139 to 81, earning themselves a
trip to Austin for nationals and establishing themselves as a serious
contender to win the Heartland Havoc on Sunday.

Throughout the first period, both teams seemed to follow a strategy of
almost always calling off jams after the first scoring pass, which had the
effect of squeezing 14 jams into the 20 minutes. Philly took the lead at
first, getting lead jammer on the first three jams and opening up a 13-5
lead. Things slowly but surely turned Gotham's way in the period, though,
with Cheap Skate picking up 9-3 jam over Mo Pain with about 10 minutes left
to play in the period and giving Gotham their first lead of the game at
27-22. The lead grew to 31-22 as Suzy Hotrod claimed lead jammer and shut
out Teflon Donna on a 4-0 jam, and while the teams continued trading jam
wins, Gotham was usually able to win their jams by slightly more. On the
final jam of the period, Gotham's Suzy Hotrod truly showed her speed,
managing to score a grand slam on Philly's Mo Pain even though the jam
started with only about 45 seconds left on the clock. The period ended at
Gotham 49, Philly 35.

Gotham started to establish control of the game in the first few jams of
the second period, going on a 24-7 run that ended with Bonnie Thunders
running up a 7-0 jam on Philly's Violet Temper, who was sent to the box
midway through the jam. With the score 72-42 at that point, Gotham seemed
to have gained confidence and it showed in a bit of Gotham levity, when a
Philly timeout led turned into an impromptu Violent Femmes dance party for
the Gotham girls and their fans while the Philly girls caucused intently at
their bench. Despite the strategizing, Philly couldn't get anything going
offensively -- and, just as problematically, couldn't keep the Gotham
jammers from claiming lead. Gotham took lead jammer on the last four jams
of the period and won all of them, extending the New York lead to 94-60 as
the period closed.

Philly managed to control the lead jammer battle for the majority of the
final period, but the Gotham jammers were always bursting out of the pack
right behind them, keeping Philly from putting up any significant margins
on their wins. In fact, the Gotham jammers were always so close to the
Philly jammers that Philly only won 1 of the 8 jams in which they took lead
jammer, with all the rest ending in ties or wins for Gotham. Gotham's
imposing blocker Beyonslay was a major factor in that, repeatedly acting as
a one-woman wall against Philly jammers who simply couldn't find a way
around her size and seemingly effortless lateral motion. Philly had one
shining moment about halfway through the period when blockers Roxy Rockett
and Vixen Van Go-Go teamed up to make life very difficult for Gotham jammer
Beatrix Slaughter, keeping her locked up or on the floor long enough for
Philly jammer Violet Temper to score a grand slam on Slaughter and pick up
a 5-0 jam. That moved the score to Gotham 110, Philly 75, but Philly then
found themselves shut out on the four following jams. In the end, Gotham
moved on to the tournament's final day with a decisive 139-81 win in the
third seeding upset in a row.

At 1:30pm on Sunday, Gotham goes up against the surprising Detroit Derby
Girls in a semifinal that will determine who lands in the Heartland Havoc
championship game.

---------------
(t3) Carolina 98, (t6) Providence 55

The final game of Heartland Havoc's second round turned out to be the only
outcome that the seeding would have predicted, with the third-seeded
Carolina Roller Girls defeating sixth-seeded Providence in a highly
defensive game, 98 to 55.

The first period was an extremely strategic affair, with both teams
repeatedly using lead jammer status to call jams at 0-0 rather than
attempting to put points on the board. Through the first three jams, there
was only one point scored -- by Carolina's Zella Lugosi over Providence's
Dolly Rocket. On the fourth jam, Carolina's deceivingly diminutive jammer
Princess America decked her opposing jammer Baby Fighterfly on their
approach to the pack, and used the time she gained to pick up 3 points
before calling the jam off. Still, though, eight jams and ten minutes into
the period, the score stood at a shockingly low Carolina 5, Providence 1.
It was at about this point that Providence started using a unique strategy,
with their jammers slowing down and attempting to block the Carolina
jammers out of bounds before they could reach the pack -- unfortunately for
Providence, the Carolina jammers were consistently able to sneak around
them and claim lead jammer. Carolina finally began to accelerate in the
second half of the period, though, going on a 21-2 run that gave Carolina a
solid lead at 22-3. Over the last three jams of the period, each team
scored 7 points, ending the period with the score Carolina 33, Providence
10.

Providence managed to put together more offense in the second period, but
Carolina was right there with them, refusing to let Providence narrow the
gap. On the fifth jam of the period, Providence pivot Dolly Rocket seemed
to have Princess America's number, leveling the Carolina jammer almost
every time she entered the pack, but Providence couldn't turn it into a
victory, with Providence lead jammer Dasilva Bullet only able to score 2
points to Princess America's 2. That put the score at Carolina 62,
Providence 19. Princess America would get her revenge three jams later
though, getting lead jammer by beating pivot Dolly on an impressive
fake-out that left Dolly lunging at air. On the last three jams of the
period, Carolina put up 12 points to zero for Providence, putting the score
at Carolina 76, Providence 28 going into the final period.

That final period bore some resemblance to the first, with many jams ending
0-0 -- of course, with the score so lopsided, a 0-0 jam was a much better
outcome for Carolina than for Providence. Through the first four jams of
the period, Carolina only collected 3 points to 1 for Providence.
Providence looked to get something going just after that, though, with
Providence jammer DaSilva Bullet taking advantage of some wickedly
effective blocking from pivot Dolly Rocket to put up a 5-0 grand slam jam
over Zella Lugosi. That was soon followed up by a Dolly Rocket jam that
proved to be the most lopsided of the whole bout -- with Princess America
in the penalty box, Dolly went nearly the full two minutes in scoring a
12-0 jam, nearly doubling Providence's offensive output in the period and
putting the score at Carolina 87, Providence 47. That would be the last big
moment for Providence, though, and the scoreboard showed a 98-55 victory
for the Carolina girls at the end of the night.

Carolina will face Windy City at 11am on Sunday, with the winner heading to
a same-day championship match against either Gotham or Detroit.


















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